A unique line-up comprising three of the most revered names on the Breton musical scene - Jean-Michel Veillon on flute and bombarde; Patrick Molard on Scottish pipes and Breton biniou; and Jacky Molard on fiddle. These three famous musicians have indelibly left their mark on the development of Breton music over the last 35 years. Between them, they have been involved with groups such as Gwerz, Den, Barzaz, Kornog, Pennoù Skoulm, Alain Genty group, Toud 'Sames, Jacky Molard Acoustic Quartet, Jacques Pellen's Celtic Procession, Alan Stivell and Dan Ar Braz. They have also collaborated with musicians from other parts of the world including Okay Temiz and Marzoug (previous visitors to the festival from Algeria). Their performance at the festival will feature a repertoire mainly inspired by traditional Breton music not often heard on Irish stages.
Patrick Molard was born in 1951 in St Malo. He started with the Scottish Highland Bagpipe in 1965 with the Bagad Quic en Groigne (St Malo) and the An Ere Pipe Band from Rennes, where he met Jakez Pincet, his first pipe master, who enabled him to go on to study with the two great Scottish pipers Robert Brown & Robert Nicol, both Queen Elizabeth' personal pipers. With those Scottish masters, he worked on a hundred or so classical pipe pieces, or Piobaireachd. They not only taught him to play Piobaireachd but also its spirit, philosophy, the differences between space and time, shadow and light, the kind of recipe that enables the playing of such moving tunes.
On his return to Brittany, he played the biniou koz and the bombard (a double reed loud oboe, very typical of Brittany) and went very deeply into the soul of Breton musical traditions. He frequently plays for weddings and festoù-noz together with such musicians as Pierre Crepillon and Youenn le Bihan. Contact with well-known Kan-ha-diskan singers led him to a keen interest in the gavotte and fisel styles. He also learned the Irish uilleann pipes in Ireland with Liam O'Flynn.
Born on the North Coast of Brittany in 1959, Jean-Michel was first a dancer and then a bombard player in his teens. He then started to play the wooden flute, getting his first influences from Irish flute players such as Desi Wilkinson from Belfast, but then created distinct articulation techniques, more adapted to the Breton music.
Jean-Michel toured Europe and the U.S extensively in the 1980's as a founder member of the highly praised groups Kornog, Pennoù Skoulm, Den and Barzaz before turning to duo (with guitarist Yvon Riou, and then with bouzouki/singer Jamie McMenemy) or solo work.
Widely credited with introducing the simple system wooden flute into Breton folk music, and primarily responsible though his intensive teaching efforts and hundreds of concerts and festivals appearances for its widespread adoption among many dozens of young musicians throughout Brittany, Jean-Michel has achieved widespread recognition as one of world's premier traditional flute players.
Jacky is one of the most versatile musicians in the Breton music scene. Although he has a deep knowledge of the Breton repertoire and rhythms, his style shows an elegant blend of various influences, from bluegrass to jazz. Jacky also plays regularly with Balkan musicians like Hasan Harim Duniya (Turkish gypsy clarinet player), Viorel Takuna (Serbian accordionist) and Costica Olan (Taragot player from the Romanian group Taraf de Carancebes). He is also a prolific composer, an outstanding arranger and a respected producer and sound engineer.